Tempted to join a new contractor scheme? Ask the following

[cojak]

I’m not surprised in the least.

There are enough gullible newbies who believe the salesman’s patter and don’t know the meaning of the term ‘due diligence’ to make it profitable for these guys.

The scams even get annoyed when I switch their sockies to point to different schemes from the ones they’re touting.

[stonehenge]

It's hard to believe that firms can still make money out of these schemes.

With all the negative press, you'd think the heydays would be long gone.

[eazy]

Sunday Times : Schemes

Don’t end up like me — run fast from schemes that say they’ll cut your tax

The Revenue is cracking down, but firms are still advertising elaborate strategies to tempt self-employed people

Don’t end up like me — run fast from schemes that say they’ll cut your tax | Money | The Sunday Times

Companies are promoting schemes that claim they can reduce workers’ tax bills to just 10p in the pound — despite an aggressive crackdown on avoidance by HM Revenue & Customs. Several companies run prominent online advertisements boasting of complex schemes — apparently approved by leading barristers — that may get round the rules designed to ban such practices.

Accountants warn, however, that anyone using these arrangements is likely to face an HMRC investigation.

Officials are clamping down in particular on any “disguised remuneration” schemes that try to make it look as though someone’s earnings are lower than they are. Artificial loan arrangements and offshore trusts are used to give this impression. Because the money is claimed to be a loan rather than earnings, income tax and national insurance go unpaid. The schemes are typically aimed at contractors and self-employed people who mostly work for a single company.


Last week the government revealed the extent of tax avoidance through disguised remuneration. Estimates suggest the schemes have about 50,000 users and that the crackdown will bring in £3.2bn, the Treasury said.

“Terms like ‘IR35 compliant’ and ‘QC approved’ are used to offer reassurance. Even if a QC’s opinion was given, it does not mean HMRC cannot challenge it.”

See link above for full article

[BrilloPad]

14. Can I have some more tablets please? This is to be directed at your shrink.

Now 8 years since HMRC introduced retrospective legislation. Its a complete nightmare.

[carling]

Hi,

I am new to the contracting world and I recently moved to the UK. I work through my own LTD, but I was considering looking into some Umbrella companies and maybe change for the next financial year. There are several umbrella companies offering take home money 90% or so and I also know some people that work with them and they are not at all worried. Can anyone advise of how big the risk really is? Some of the companies I looked into are Extralimited and Loaghton Solutions. I would really appreciate some advice.

Thank you very much!

Any "Umbrella Company" that offers you 90% take home pay is guarenteed to be a scheme that HMRC will catch up with.
Run a mile, don't look back and convince your friends to get out ASAP.

[cojak]

Hi,

I am new to the contracting world and I recently moved to the UK. I work through my own LTD, but I was considering looking into some Umbrella companies and maybe change for the next financial year. There are several umbrella companies offering take home money 90% or so and I also know some people that work with them and they are not at all worried. Can anyone advise of how big the risk really is? Some of the companies I looked into are Extralimited and Loaghton Solutions. I would really appreciate some advice.

Thank you very much!

This thread is in a sub-forum called HMRC Scheme Enquiries.

The latest scheme to be targeted is Network One.

Did you not read weberg's original post? Go back, read it and then perform due diligence by asking scheme providers the questions that he posed.

[Riandra]

HMRC issues wealth management scheme warning
HMRC issues wealth management scheme warning | AccountingWEB

Promoters marketing these avoidance schemes and arrangements terms may promise that:
•Arrangements fall outside the scope of tax avoidance
•The scheme is not disclosable to HMRC and leading tax counsel (QC) have agreed this
•The scheme has been disclosed and therefore you cannot be penalised
•We have been offering these schemes for years and have not been challenged
•We have won all previous court cases in relation to these arrangements
•HMRC will write you a few letters and then give up and go away

First published: 1 February 2016
HMRC : Ten things you need to know about tax avoidance Schemes, 1 February 2016

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...lways-tell-you

Hi,

I am new to the contracting world and I recently moved to the UK. I work through my own LTD, but I was considering looking into some Umbrella companies and maybe change for the next financial year. There are several umbrella companies offering take home money 90% or so and I also know some people that work with them and they are not at all worried. Can anyone advise of how big the risk really is? Some of the companies I looked into are Extralimited and Loaghton Solutions. I would really appreciate some advice.

Thank you very much!

[eazy]

HMRC issues wealth management scheme warning
HMRC issues wealth management scheme warning | AccountingWEB

Promoters marketing these avoidance schemes and arrangements terms may promise that:
•Arrangements fall outside the scope of tax avoidance
•The scheme is not disclosable to HMRC and leading tax counsel (QC) have agreed this
•The scheme has been disclosed and therefore you cannot be penalised
•We have been offering these schemes for years and have not been challenged
•We have won all previous court cases in relation to these arrangements
•HMRC will write you a few letters and then give up and go away

First published: 1 February 2016
HMRC : Ten things you need to know about tax avoidance Schemes, 1 February 2016

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...lways-tell-you

[cojak]

Any new poster asking about these kind of scams schemes will be pointed to this thread.

[DotasScandal]

Someone borrow HMRC's time machine and deliver this to our younger selves in 2005

[webberg]

13 Questions you MUST ask about any scheme you are offered

The following is based on a piece originally written by and now replicated with kind permission of Jolyon Maugham QC and first appeared on the waitingfortax blog in 2014. I have shortened it and consequently any errors are mine.

Contractors as a population are seen as easy prey by some who continue to tell you that 90% of your invoice value in your pocket is risk free, 100% compliant, QC approved. The following is a good checklist of questions to ask of any adviser, professional or otherwise, who suggests that you might like to use one of their products.

These questions are designed for you – and not for your adviser – to apply. You should discuss them with your adviser – but you should also try and form your own view. Ask the following questions of the person putting the proposal to you, either YOUR adviser or the scheme provider.

1. Is there a DOTAS number that I will have to put on my tax return? If there is a number that is a strong indicator of high tax risk. If there is no DOTAS ask why not and to see any advice saying it's not required.

2. Is there a promoter reference number for your transaction? Transactions with promoter reference numbers will have been devised by those identified by HMRC as more likely to be engaged in high risk behaviour.

3. Is there a page on HMRC’s website (Spotlight) that deals with this type of transaction? If the Adviser cannot direct you to where the transaction is addressed in HMRC's Manuals it may indicate a higher tax risk.

4. What fee are you being asked to pay? If you are asked to pay a fee calculated by reference to tax saved, that can be an indicator of high tax risk. If your fee is calculated by reference to your adviser’s reasonable hourly rate, that can indicate a lower tax risk. If your adviser is happy to work on either basis, again, that can indicate a lower tax risk.

5. Are you asked to keep the details of the transaction confidential, or sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement? The confidentiality in your tax affairs is generally yours to keep – or waive – and not your advisor’s. If your advisor asks you to keep details of the transaction confidential that may well indicate that the transaction is being sold to others and is a strong indicator of high tax risk.

5A. If you have an existing tax adviser, is he or she putting the transaction together for you – or is your existing tax adviser working with someone new? If it’s the latter, and he or she is going to be paid a commission for your involvement, this creates a potential conflict of interest for your adviser. You should discuss with your adviser whether he or she would be prepared to rebate the commission to you and be paid on his or her normal charging basis. If your adviser is not prepared to do this, this may signal high tax risk.

Why are you transacting – and why are you transacting in this way?

6. Does your transaction advance a non-tax (i.e. either a commercial or a personal) objective? If your only purpose in transacting is to achieve a tax benefit, this is a strong indicator of high tax risk.

7. Is the attractiveness of the transaction a consequence of the tax benefits it delivers? If you would transact without the tax benefits, that is a strong indicator of low tax risk. If you are transacting in part for the tax benefits you may wish to pay particular attention to badges 3 and 11.

8. If your transaction has a non-tax objective, does the manner in which you are carrying out that transaction seem like a natural or obvious way to achieve that objective? Most transactions structured in a natural or obvious way will attract the tax treatment Parliament intends. A transaction which seems overly complicated to achieve a particular non-tax objective, or a transaction which contains steps which do not serve an obvious purpose, indicates higher tax risk.

9. Does the shape of the transaction give you a better tax result than another economically equivalent transaction? What are the tax consequences of achieving your objective through a different route? A transaction that involves you paying less than the maximum amount of tax has some tax risk but a transaction that is tax maximising has none.

10. Does the shape of the transaction advance your pre-tax objectives? If both the transaction and its shape are dictated by your non-tax objectives that is a strong signal of low tax risk.

In tax, as with other things, there is rarely such a thing as a free lunch. The difference between ‘good’ and ‘risky’ tax planning is very often whether Parliament intended the tax result your transaction delivers. So, you should ask yourself:

11. Is it likely that Parliament intended this tax result? It is useful to ask this question alongside 3. above: if Parliament did intend it, it is very likely HMRC’s website will say so.

12. Are you being taxed on the economic or ‘real’ transaction that you entered into – or do the tax consequences attach to some other transaction? If you are being taxed on a transaction that differs from the ‘real’ transaction that is a strong signal of high tax risk.